Shanghai, July 19 (Gasgoo.com) General Motors started constructing a technical center in Shanghai today. The $250,000 R&D facility will develop electric cars, lightweight materials and alternative fuel technology, AFP reported.
GM's China Advanced Technical Center, due to be completed by late 2011, will include nine research labs and 62 test labs for work on new propulsion systems, gasoline alternatives, electrification systems and new engines and battery cells, and will have more than 300 designers, engineers, researchers and technicians, the company said.
"Clearly the growth of China as the most important growth market in the world means that we're going to be putting more of our resources in advanced technology and research here," GM China President Kevin Wale told reporters. "It's just a logical extension of the success of the China market and our success over here."
GM and its joint ventures in China expect to sell more than two million cars in the world's largest auto this year after record sales of 1.83 million in 2009. China has become a larger market for GM than its domestic U.S. market.
In the years to come, GM will seek to "recruit some of the best brains in China's academic system" to develop vehicles and technologies that will be used in the company's vehicles sold in China and overseas, Wale said.
